By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFox News Channel’s Donald Trump-less Republican presidential candidate debate did quite nicely for itself in D-FW Thursday night, ranking as the No. 1 program in total viewers and running second only to Fox’s American Idol with advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.

Airing from 8 to 10 p.m., the debate averaged 354,120 viewers and 88,920 in the 18-to-49 age range compared to Idol’s respective marks of 269,131 and 114,325 viewers.

Trump’s competing, hastily arranged benefit for veterans didn’t start until 8:15 p.m., with CNN and MSNBC carrying it live for the first minutes or so. From 8:15 to 8:30 p.m., Trump had 56,659 total viewers on CNN and 42,494 on MSNBC. In the 18-to-49 demographic, Trump drew 31,757 viewers on CNN and 6,351 on MSNBC. CNN then brought analysts in to mostly talk over Trump while MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow ripped the Republican frontrunner. Interestingly, CNN had more total viewers for its 9:15 to 9:30 p.m. pontificator segment (70,824) than for the opening Trump speech.

(Nationally, the debate ranked the second lowest among all of the Republican candidate encounters, with roughly 11 million total viewers, according to early data. Fox News Channel’s first GOP debate, back in August, still holds this campaign season’s high mark of 25 million viewers. CNN’s initial Republican debate almost matched it with 23 million viewers nationally. Trump participated in both of those.)

Back to the D-FW Nielsens, where NBC’s 7 p.m. premiere of You, Me and the Apocalypse ran third in that hour among the Big Four broadcast networks with 141,648 total viewers. It moved up to second among 18-to-49-year-olds with 66,690 viewers, although the competition included repeats of CBS’ potent twosome of The Big Bang Theory and Life in Pieces.

Wednesday’s prime-time parade was paced by the one-hour 7 p.m. edition of Idol, which easily led all programming in both total viewers (325,790) and 18-to-49-year-olds (101,622).

On Tuesday night, CBS’ 7 p.m. repeat of NCIS nonetheless ranked as prime-time’s No. 1 overall draw with 254,966 total viewers. But NBC’s 9 p.m. new episode of Chicago Fire was the top draw among 18-to-49-year-olds (57,163).

Here are the local news derby results.

Tuesday -- TEGNA8 led at 10 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m. In the 6 p.m. races, TEGNA8 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers, but TEGNA8 had the 25-to-54 gold to itself.

Wednesday -- Fox4 ran the table at 10 p.m. and breezed to another pair of comfy wins at 6 a.m.

NBC5 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but TEGNA8 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds. The 5 p.m. wins went to the Peacock in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54-year-old realm.

Thursday -- Fox4 won at 6 a.m. and 5, 6 and 10 p.m. in the key 25-to-54 demographic. The station also again had the most total viewers at 6 a.m.

TEGNA8, trampolining off another starvation lead-in from the season finale of My Diet Is Better Than Yours, edged NBC5 for the most total viewers at 10 p.m. The 5 and 6 p.m. firsts in total viewers respectively went to TEGNA8 and CBS11.

Leading off prime-time, the limited-run reunion of David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully drew 276,214 D-FW viewers and 111,150 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Both were Monday night’s top showings in these measurements, with ABC’s competing first hour of The Bachelor (233,719 total viewers) and CBS’ Supergirl (219,554 total viewers) both making decent showings. The Bachelor also was the runner-up from 7 to 8 p.m. among 18-to-49-year-olds (88,920).

Fox’s 8 p.m. premiere of Lucifer then fell to third place in total viewers, drawing 184,142 opposite CBS’ Scorpion (269,131) and the second hour of The Bachelor (205,390). But the modern-day devil as a Los Angeles hot spot owner ranked a solid No. 1 in its time slot with 18-to-49-year-olds (95,271).

CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles won the 9 p.m. hour in total viewers (247,884) while NBC’s second hour of The Biggest Loser took the 18-to-49 gold with 57,163.

Over on CNN, the 8 to 10 p.m. Democratic presidential candidate town hall meeting, with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley making separate appearances onstage, drew comparatively scant interest with 42,494 total viewers and just 9,527 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 swept the 10 p.m. races in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at both 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. TEGNA8 drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but CBS11 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.

LOCAL TV NEWS NOTE: -- Well, it’s always something. Ron Corning, co-anchor of TEGNA8’s early morning Daybreak program, was surprised to learn that a scam artist had created a bogus Facebook profile using pictures of him in an attempt to woo and then bilk a Kingman, Kansas woman.

Posing as “Robert Williams,” the scammer tried to sweet-talk a woman named Yolanda into buying him a $1,000 plane ticket to come visit her. But a “reverse Google image” search by Yolanda’s daughter turned up Corning’s Facebook page. The daughter then contacted Corning.

“I realized he’d used all of my profile pictures over the last year and a half, including one with my own mother. I was shocked,” Corning says in a story posted by Wichita CBS affiliate KWCH-TV.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe NFL’s AFC and NFC championship games, one a down-to-the-wire thriller and the other a rout, drew Dallas Cowboys-sized regular season numbers Sunday.

The Denver Broncos’ 20-18 win over the New England Patriots, which ran from 2:06 to 5:34 p.m. on CBS, averaged 1,232,338 D-FW viewers. Fox then presented the Carolina Panthers’ 49-15 demolition of the Arizona Cardinals ( 5:46 to 8:58 p.m.), which drew 1,140,266 viewers.

Both games pulled in bigger crowds than the Cowboys’ last three regular season games. But by that time Dallas was 4-9 en route to a 4-12 season.

Fox then waited a curiously long time before airing its Sunday night return of The X-Files for a six-episode “event series.” The network’s padded post-game show ran all the way to 9:24 p.m., with viewers trickling away. Since Nielsen Media Research measures in 15-minute increments, it’s hard to precisely measure the audience for X-Files. But the bulk of the return ran between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. And in that hour, X-Files pulled in 446,191 viewers, with the audience declining in each 15-minute segment.

Among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, X-Files had 196,893 viewers. Both numbers easily were enough to win the 9:30 to10:30 p.m. slot, although Fox could have done better with an earlier start. It also didn’t help that the blowout NFC championship game was losing rather than gaining viewers down the stretch. The opposite was true of CBS’ AFC thriller.

NBC’s prime-time attraction, the feature film Bridesmaids, averaged just 63,742 total viewers and 34,933 in the 18-to-49 age range during the 7 to 10 p.m. slot. But it was a behemoth compared to ABC’s 8 to 10 p.m. rerun of Marvel’s Agent Carter, which had respective totals of 28,330 and 6,351 viewers.

On Saturday night, ABC’s prime-time telecast of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Chicago Bulls game averaged 99,154 total viewers to beat figure skating on NBC and boxing on Fox (63,742 viewers apiece).

CBS’ Blue Bloods again led all Friday night TV attractions in total viewers with 276,214. But Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen had prime-time’s biggest haul of 18-to-49-year-olds (60,338).

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 won in total viewers at 10 p.m., but TEGNA8 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 did likewise at 6 p.m. The Peacock also led in total viewers at 5 p.m. while sharing the 25-to-54 lead with Fox4.

Idol also mostly won among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, averaging 95,271 for the full two hours. CBS’ new episode of Life In Pieces won from 7:30 to 8 p.m. with 107,974 viewers in the 18-to-49 age range.

Meanwhile, TEGNA8 management cheered the merciful 8 to 10 p.m. series finale of My Diet Is Better Than Yours, which has been feeding its 10 p.m. newscasts ratings gruel. Thursday’s edition was no exception, with Diet drawing just 49,577 total viewers and 19,054 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

In contrast, Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast fed off Idol and easily won the hour with 254,966 total viewers and 79,393 in the 18-to-49 realm.

Fox’s 7 p.m. hour of Idol led Wednesday’s prime-time parade in both total viewers (311,626) and 18-to-49-year-olds (82,568). The network’s second episode of Second Chance fell to respective totals of 155,813 and 53,987. That put it second in the 8 p.m. hour behind CBS’ Criminal Minds, which had 262,049 total viewers and 85,744 in the 18-to-49 measurement.

Fox4’s local news and CBS’ Code Black tied for the most total viewers at 9 p.m. (155,813 apiece) while Code Black won outright with 18-to-49-year-olds (50,811).

Here are the local news derby results.

Wednesday -- TEGNA8 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but Fox4 had the edge among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions and also won with 25-to-54-year-olds at both 5 and 6 p.m. NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. and TEGNA8 won in that measurement at 6 p.m.

The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and the Peacock with 25-to-54-year-olds. The two stations traded places at 5 p.m., with NBC5 tops in total viewers and CBS11 ranking first among 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFirst of all, it likely will come as no surprise that the weekend NFL post-season games dominated D-FW’s Nielsen ratings. But let’s rewind with the more recent results during this catchup round.

CBS’ NCIS again led Tuesday’s prime-time parade in total viewers (403,697) while the network’s NCIS: New Orleans (339,955) and Limitless (177,060) likewise won their time slots. CBS also made it a clean sweep among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with NCIS again the night’s biggest draw of all (66,690 viewers).

In contrast, ABC landed with a thud in the ratings basement with the two-hour, 8 to 10 p.m. return of Marvel’s Agent Carter. It drew a measly 35,412 total viewers and 12,703 in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

In Monday’s prime-time results, CBS’ 7 p.m. episode of Supergirl and ABC’s first half of The Bachelor tied for the most total viewers at that hour with 198,307 apiece. CBS then controlled the 8 to 10 p.m. slot with Scorpion (262,049) and NCIS: Los Angeles (247,884).

The Bachelor took the entire 7 to 9 p.m. slot among 18-to-49-year-olds (85,744) before NCIS: Los Angeles won the 9 p.m. hour with 53,987 viewers in the 18-to-49 age range.

CBS’ post-game attraction, an edition of 60 Minutes featuring an exclusive segment with Sean Pean on his El Chapo drug lord interview, also cleaned up with 545,345 total viewers and 165,136 within the 18-to-49 motherlode.

NBC’s three-way Democratic presidential candidate debate, which aired from 8 to 10 p.m. Sunday, pulled in 219,554 total viewers. It was beaten in the first hour by CBS’ Madam Secretary (276,214 viewers) before winning the 9 p.m. hour. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, Fox’s Family Guy had the most viewers from 8 to 8:30 p.m. before the Dems controlled the 8:30 to 10 p.m. portion.

On a comparatively uneventful Friday night, CBS’ Blue Bloods again ranked No. 1 in total viewers (269,131) while also placing first among 18-to-49-year-olds by a sliver over NBC’s two-hour Dateline.

Here are the local news derby results.

Friday -- CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but NBC5 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions; NBC5 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. and tied TEGNA8 for first in the 25-to-54 measurement. TEGNA8 ranked first in total viewers at 5 p.m. while again tying NBC5 for the top spot with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Monday -- CBS11 again drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while TEGNA8 ran first among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Fox4 ran the table at both 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 in the 25-to-54 age range.

Tuesday -- CBS11 made it three straight 10 p.m. wins in total viewers and this time also held onto first place in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic.

Fox4 repeated Monday’s performance by sweeping the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. races. CBS11 ranked No. 1 in total viewers at 6 p.m. and NBC5 won among 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterBradley Blackburn, who previously worked as an ABC network associate producer and for fusion.com, is now reporting for Dallas-based TEGNA8.

News director Carolyn Mungo has not returned an email asking if Blackburn is a full-time staffer or freelancer. But his reports began airing this month. He had a story Tuesday night on looting in tornado-stricken Rowlett.

Blackburn graduated from Columbia University in 2008 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterCBS, NBC and Fox all scored at least one prime-time win Thursday. ABC bottomed out, finishing last across the board among the Big Four broadcast networks.

The night’s big scorer, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, won from 7 to 7:30 p.m. with 417,862 total viewers and 155,609 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

The second half-hour of Fox’s American Idol then had the most total viewers (304,543), but CBS’ competing Life In Pieces ran first with 18-to-49-year-olds (95,271).

Idol swept the 8 p.m. hour in both ratings measurements -- 276,214 total viewers and 98,447 in the 18-to-49 age range.

The 9 p.m. spoils were split between Fox4’s local newscast in total viewers (184,142) and the second episode of NBC’s Shades of Blue in the 18-to-49 realm (66,690).

ABC barely came up for air with its combo of Beyond the Tank and My Diet Is Better Than Yours. Diet in particular starved, drawing a scant 28,330 total viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. and just 9,527 in the key 18-to-49 demographic. That left TEGNA8’s 10 p.m. newscast in the lurch with next to no lead-in power.

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 scored narrow wins at 10 p.m. in both total viewers (just ahead of CBS11) and 25-to-54-year-olds (just ahead of Fox4 in the main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 resumed its winning ways with a 6 a.m. sweep after a nearly three-month winning streak in both ratings measurements was halted on Wednesday by NBC5.

CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m. and Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds. The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 age range.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterBefore getting to the prime-time results, let’s note that nothing lasts forever -- at least here on Planet Earth. So for the first time since Oct. 14th, a station other than Fox4 entered the winner’s circle in the 6 a.m. local news derby results.

Fox4 still won in total viewers Wednesday. But NBC5 ended Fox4’s nearly three-month sweep of that one-hour slot by placing first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The Peacock also was the station to beat Fox4 on Oct. 14th -- on that occasion in both ratings measurements.

In prime-time, the Fox network’s American Idol topped the 7 p.m. hour in both total viewers (318,708) and advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds (114,325).

Fox’s premiere of the sci-fi series Second Chance then drooped to 177,060 total viewers and 66,690 in the 18-to-49 age range. ABC’s competing Modern Family won from 8 to 8:30 p.m. in both ratings measurements and CBS’ Criminal Minds also twice topped Second Chance.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast rebounded nicely to easily control that hour with 269,131 total viewers and 127,028 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

In the other local newscast results, Fox4 likewise rang up a pair of lopsided wins at 10 p.m. while NBC5 ran the table at 5 p.m.

The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterPresident Obama’s final State of the Union address, the Republican response and post-game jabber took up much of prime-time Tuesday night.

Obama’s featured speech began shortly after 8 p.m. and ended at 9:09 p.m. Because Nielsen Media Research measures in 15-minute increments, here are the 8 to 9:15 p.m. D-FW total viewer numbers for the broadcast and cable networks that carried the State of the Union.

“I grew up in Dallas, so I can’t wait to cover the news in my hometown,” Murray said in a publicity release. She’s also a University of Texas graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism.

“Shannon finds a way to find the story,” Fox4 vice president of news Robin Whitmeyer said. “She’s established strong connections in Austin and I know she’ll hone those skills in Dallas by working them every minute.”

Murray joined KVUE in January 2013 and previously worked for KCRS radio in Odessa/Midland. Before that she was an intern for five months at Austin’s KXAN-TV.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterA much-closer, high octane game no doubt helped the D-FW ratings for Monday’s college football national championship game on ESPN.

Still, it dropped off sharply from last year’s lopsided 42-20 win by Ohio State over Oregon. Mitigating factors: that was the first ever championship game under the new four-team playoff system. And it was played in Jerry’s Palace, which likely helped to pump the D-FW numbers.

Whatever the case, Alabama’s 45-40 win over Clemson at University of Phoenix Stadium fell to an average of 658,663 viewers compared to 850,828 for Ohio State-Oregon. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Alabama-Clemson had 279,462 viewers compared to last year’s 400,533. This year’s championship game stretched to 11:18 p.m. but peaked early on with a high of 771,982 total viewers from 8:45 to 9 p.m.

ESPN can brag that nothing else came close. CBS’ 7 p.m. rerun of The Big Bang Theory, which aired before the game began, was the runner-up in total viewers with 219,554. ABC’s two-hour dollop of The Bachelor ran second among 18-to-49-year-olds with 76,217.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 edged CBS11 for the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 won by a comfortable margin with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). TEGNA8’s mainstay 10 p.m. anchor, John McCaa, returned to duty after a bout with a fractured jaw.

Fox4 again won by wide margins at 6 a.m. and NBC5 had a big day in the early evening by running the table at both 5 and 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterSunday night’s oft-bleeped Golden Globes on NBC easily controlled the prime-time terrain but got sacked for big losses compared to the ratings for three of the weekend’s four NFL wild card games.

The Globes, hosted for the fourth time by Ricky Gervais, averaged 524,098 D-FW viewers for a three-hour show that ticked four minutes past the scheduled 10 p.m. stop time. A total of 228,650 of those viewers were within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old age range.

The weekend’s top TV attraction, Fox’s late Sunday afternoon/early evening Green Bay Packers-Washington Redskins wild card game, was a Goliath in comparison. Bleeding slightly into the 7 p.m. start of the Golden Globes, the game averaged 934,877 total viewers, well more than the 772,014 the Dallas Cowboys drew for their season-ending loss to Washington. Packers-Redskins had 387,435 viewers within the 18-to-49 motherlode, also far above the 295,340 for the Cowboys’ climactic loss at home to Washington on the previous Sunday.

ABC’s musical/comedy series Galavant sang something even blow the blues in Sunday’s 7 p.m. hour. It had 42,494 total viewers and 6,351 in the 18-to-49 range. Both were by far the lowest totals for the night among the Big Four broadcast networks. Over on PBS, the 8 p.m. second episode of Downtown Abbey hung in there with 169,978 total viewers and 53,987 in the 18-to-49 measurement. Both are pretty much blockbuster totals for public television.

On Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs’ rout of the Houston Texans on ABC drew 559,510 viewers to easily rank as the smallest draw of the four games. But it still edged the Golden Globes. CBS’ prime-time telecast of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ near-miracle win over the clown car Cincinnati Bengals then ramped up to 672,828 viewers. The penalty-strewn game didn’t end until 10:56 p.m.

In Friday’s prime-time parade, CBS’ 9 p.m. episode of Blue Bloods had the most total viewers with 269,131 while Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast ranked as the top draw among 18-to-49-year-olds (79,393).

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but TEGNA8 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m., where its long unbeaten streak has stretched for several months.

TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. and Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-old at both 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterGlam on Fox’s American Idol, then glum on NBC’s new Shades of Blue, Jennifer Lopez tried her best to rock prime-time Thursday.

But CBS’ 7 p.m. episode of the The Big Bang Theory first got in the way, spanking the first half-hour of Idol with a dominant 439,109 total viewers and 161,961 in the advertiser-coveted coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Idol then won from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in total viewers, finishing with an overall average of 304,543 after a sluggish start. The final season of Fox’s game-changing singer search also took those 90 minutes among 18-to-49-year-olds, although the margin was paper-thin versus CBS’ competing 7:30 p.m. sitcom, Life in Pieces.

At 9 p.m., the premiere of the Lopez-starring Shades of Blue got nipped in total viewers by Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast. The score was 226,637 to 219,554. The two shows tied for first in the 18-to-49 measurement, drawing 73,041 apiece.

CBS’ 8:30 p.m. premiere of Jane Lynch’s Angel From Hell had 184,142 total viewers and 60,338 in the 18-to-49 age range. That put it third behind Idol and the second half of NBC’s competing The Blacklist.

The night’s biggest bomb, with a showing that might net it instant cancellation, was ABC’s two-hour premiere of My Diet Is Better Than Yours. If we’re talking starvation diet in the ratings, then yes. MDIBTY averaged a sub-measly 35,412 total viewers from 8 to 10 p.m., with just 12,703 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

NBC’s return of Heroes Reborn was the runner-up in the least-watched competition among the Big Four broadcast networks. Its 7 p.m. episode had 70,824 total viewers and 22,230 in the 18-to-49 realm.

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 won in total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again romped at 6 a.m., drawing more than twice as many viewers as its closest competitor (NBC5) in each ratings measurement. The 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Fox4’s Good Day also ran the table opposite the network morning shows on ABC, CBS and NBC.

NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but TEGNA8 was alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.

At 5 p.m., NBC5 ran first in total viewers while Fox4 and TEGNA8 shared the 25-to-54-year-old gold.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterAnchor-reporter Carla Wade will be leaving Dallas-based TEGNA8 after the station declined to renew her contract, informed sources tell unclebarky.com.

Wade came to D-FW in late January 2013 from Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV, where she also spent three years. She’s been anchoring TEGNA8’s weekend morning newscasts and also reporting on weekdays. Wade began at TEGNA8 as a co-anchor the station’s weekend P.M. newscasts with Jason Wheeler.

Sources say that Wade, who could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday, has been taken off the weekend anchor schedule but may be required to continue reporting until her contract officially expires later in January.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterWednesday’s final season premiere of Fox’s American Idol pretty much performed like its old self in the D-FW Nielsen ratings.

It dominated the 7 to 9 p.m. slot in total viewers with 375,367. Idol also won from start to stop among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, but not without a strong fight from ABC’s Modern Family from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Final score: Idol, 130,204 viewers in this key demographic and Modern Family, 120,677. Idol averaged 133,380 viewers in the 18-to-49 realm for its entire two hours.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast benefited from the largesse, but barely beat NBC’s competing Chicago P.D. by a total viewers count of 254,966 to 247,884. The two shows tied for the 9 p.m. top spot among 18-to-49-year-olds.

CBS’ annual two-hour People’s Choice Awards, virtually the last place where the Big Four broadcast networks can walk away with a lion’s share of the awards, drew 141,648 total viewers and 60,338 in the 18-to-49 demographic. That was enough to beat ABC’s 9 p.m. Season 2 premiere of the exemplary American Crime, which struggled with respective totals of 113,318 and 38,108 viewers.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and tied for first place with Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while NBC5 ran the table at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. spoils were shared by the Peacock in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 age range.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNBC5 reporter/anchor Eric King is returning to the place he left after almost a three-year stint in D-FW.

His old Kentucky station, Louisville’s WLKY-TV, announced his re-hiring Thursday.

“We are excited to have Eric’s enthusiasm, personality and journalistic talent returning to WLKY,” news director Andrea Stahlman said in a statement.

“I’m thrilled to return to the city I love and be able to reconnect with family and viewers I’ve missed,” said King, a University of Louisville graduate.

King’s previous stint at WLKY lasted from 2009 to 2013. His duties included reporting for the CBS affiliate’s morning news program and anchoring its noon and weekend morning newscasts. He left to join NBC5 in March 2013.

In January 2014, King became part of an early morning tri-anchor team at NBC5 with Deborah Ferguson and Marc Fein. But he was reassigned to the reporting pool in October of last year.

King will “rejoin the WLKY news team” in February, the station said. On his Facebook page, he said he’ll be back with the morning team. “I could not be a happier man,” King added. “I’ve been amazed at the number of you in Kentucky and Indiana that have stayed with me and remembered me. I can’t thank you enough, and I can’t wait to reconnect with you!”

The station waited until 10:18 p.m. to finally correct those numbers. Photos: Ed Bark

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterGiven all the attendant publicity, it became incumbent to report the correct winning combination Wednesday night in a Powerball sweepstakes of $524 million and counting.

But Dallas-based TEGNA8 couldn’t get its numbers straight. As shown above, the station posted a completely wrong set of six winning digits at 10:06 p.m. on its late night newscast. Twelve minutes went by before the ABC affiliate finally wised up and put the correct numbers on-screen.

“I want to apologize,” anchor Cynthia Izaguirre told viewers. “Our graphics system did not update the correct numbers at the top of the show. These are the correct ones.”

Izaguirre, the sole news anchor Wednesday night, read the right numbers off before saying, “I feel like Steve Harvey -- all of a sudden. But in the words of (weathercaster) Pete Delkus, don’t you love live television?”

There likely wasn’t much to love from anyone who thought they had won a sizable amount of money after TEGNA8 misled them. Several hundreds or thousands of dollars in winnings isn’t peanuts, after all. But never mind. The correct numbers eventually turned those winners into losers. Conversely, some who thought they were losers might have torn their tickets up before TEGNA8 corrected itself. “I blame it on the graphics system,” Izaguirre reiterated on the air.

Izaguirre was blameless in all of this as the reluctant and embarrassed messenger. But if the graphics system indeed failed to ”update” the numbers, it’s still a mystery where they came from. Dating back to Oct. 31st of last year, there has been no winning Powerball combination of 13 28 31 55 58 and 15.

(Thanks to an unclebarky.com tipster, we can confirm that the wrong numbers put up by TEGNA8 came from a March 22, 2014 drawing posted on the New York Lottery’s Powerball site.)

TEGNA8 news director Carolyn Mungo has not returned an email message asking for an explanation. To use a money metaphor, the station tends to lock down like Fort Knox whenever “internal matters” or employee dismissals are involved.

Izaguirre’s Steve Harvey reference was tied to the comedian’s massively publicized announcement of the wrong winner as host of the Dec. 20th Miss Universe pageant on Fox.

“I’m gonna go disappear now,” Izaguirre said at the end of the sportscast. But she was back to close out the show. “It was a fun one, wasn’t it?” Izaguirre said.

TEGNA8 didn’t bother to re-edit the 10 p.m. newscast for the nightly 12:35 a.m. rebroadcast. The same Powerball mistake and belated correction were repeated in their entirety.

There were no Jackpot winners in Wednesday night’s drawing. The next one will be on Saturday, Jan. 9th, with a current grand prize of $675 million, according to the official website powerball.com.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterCBS rolled into the New Year with the usual Tuesday night double shot of its dominant NCIS franchise before the network’s new Limitless spit everything up.

A new episode of NCIS crushed at 7 p.m. with 417,862 D-FW viewers before a first-run “crossover” edition of NCIS: New Orleans held almost all of that crowd with 403,697 viewers. Limitless then sagged to 155,813 viewers, running third behind NBC’s Chicago Med (212,472) and Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast (198,307).

Among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, Fox’s return of New Girl nipped NCIS for first place from 7 to 7:30 p.m. before Mark Harmon and company won from 7:30 to 8 p.m. NCIS: New Orleans ran first for its entire 8 p.m. hour. Fox4’s news and Chicago Med then tied for the lead in the 9 p.m. NCIS: New Orleans was the night’s overall biggest draw in this key demographic with 63,514 viewers.

ABC’s 7:30 p.m. episode of its struggling The Muppets was Tuesday’s low achiever among the Big Four broadcast networks with just 49,577 total viewers. But a solid percentage of them -- 31,757 -- were within the 18-to-49 motherlode. Still, that was the smallest prime-time haul of the night.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 won the 10 p.m. wars in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Chalk up two more 6 a.m. wins for Fox4 in its seemingly endless string of first place finishes. NBC5 swept the 5 p.m. competitions and added a 6 p.m. win in total viewers. TEGNA8 drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 6 p.m.

The former longtime TEGNA8 film critic and latter day co-host of the station’s Good Morning Texas is now freelancing his movie reviews for NBC5.

He began with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will continue this Friday with a critique of The Revenant on NBC5’s 4 p.m. newscast. That will be the usual once-a-week venue, Cogill says, although he’ll also be commenting on the Golden Globe awards on the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts this Sunday.

“It’s been a joy and delight to work with the folks at NBC5 simply because they are generous in spirit, always helpful and appreciate my take on films,” Cogill says. “I can’t say enough good things about being there. Film criticism is a lost art, and the chance to be on NBC5, doing what I love to do, makes me smile.”

Cogill is not displacing entertainment reporter Bobbie Wygant, who has been with NBC5 in various capacities since the station signed on in 1948 as WBAP-TV. She’ll continue to contribute, and “it’s good to be in the land of Bobbie Wygant,” Cogill says. “One of my favorite people on the planet.”

Cogill left TEGNA8 in October 2010 after 24 years with the station. He then started up the production company Lascaux Films before leaving that behind last January. His latest venture is Cogill Consulting in partnership with his wife, Hayley Hamilton Cogill.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterABC’s two-hour return of The Bachelor dominated among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds Monday while also faring well in the total viewers measurement.

The rose-peddling, voyeuristic “reality” franchise lured 226,637 total viewers from 7 to 9 p.m., losing only in the 8 p.m. hour to CBS’ Scorpion (276,214 viewers). Among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, The Bachelor rolled with 98,447 viewers while NBC’s Superstore ran second from 7 to 7:30 p.m. The two-hour premiere of Fox’s Superhuman competition show took the runner-up spot from 7:30 to 8 p.m. before tying Scorpion for second place in this key demographic.

The 9 p.m. winners were CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles in total viewers (276,214) and The Bachelor Live in the 18-to-49 realm (60,338).

NBC took the night’s biggest fall with its two-hour return of The Biggest Loser. It was Monday night’s smallest draw in total viewers (70,824) among the Big Four broadcast networks and out-pointed only NBC’s preceding Telenovela in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Telenovela fell off sharply following Superstore, running fourth from 7:30 to 8 p.m. in both ratings measurements. Superstore drew more than twice as many 18-to-49-year-old viewers as Eva Longoria’s spoof of Spanish language soapers.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results, with the four major providers returning to combat after an end-of-the-year break in which they took holiday exemptions.

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while NBC5 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again wiped out its 6 a.m. competitors with two lopsided wins and NBC5 ran the table at 5 p.m.

The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.

The Dallas Cowboys’ last regular season game, a dismal 34-23 home loss to the Washington Redskins, took a major plunge in the D-FW Nielsens in becoming the one and only to drop below the one million viewer mark. Make that well below.

Running until 3:16 p.m. on Fox, Cowboys-Redskins averaged 772,014 viewers, a steep drop from the previous bottom mark of 1,005,701 for the Dec. 27th loss at Buffalo. The game also set a season low for advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with just 295,340. That easily eclipsed the 371,557 for a Sept. 27th home loss to Atlanta.

The Cowboys finished their season with a 4-12 record and a Nielsen ratings cow pie that may not soon be beaten.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football attraction, a battle for the NFC North title between the Minnesota Vikings and badly slumping Green Bay Packers, averaged 524,098 total viewers and 238,178 in the 18-to-49 age range.

On Saturday night, TCU’s incredible Alamo Bowl comeback win against Oregon (after trailing 31-0 at halftime), drew 339,955 total viewers on ESPN. The game had drooped to 233,719 viewers between 7:45 and 8:15 p.m. before trampolining back up to 517,015 for the closing minutes.

The New Year’s Day triple header bowl brigade on ESPN was led by Stanford’s route of Iowa in the Rose Bowl. It averaged 304,543 total viewers.

On New Year’s Eve, two more one-sided games left ESPN with smaller crowds than it had hoped for. The first Final Four championship game, with Clemson blowing past Oklahoma, averaged 509,932 total viewers before Alabama’s obliteration of Michigan State at Jerry’s Palace drew 467,438 viewers. So both games fell short of NBC’s Sunday night Vikings-Packers matchup.

Later that night, ABC’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities from Times Square and elsewhere drew 318,708 total viewers from 10:35 p.m. (following TEGNA8’s local newscast) to midnight. That easily was the best late night ratings showing. CBS11’s competing homegrown New Year’s Eve on the Couch from Fort Worth’s Sundance Square ramped up to 262,049 viewers from 11:45 p.m. to midnight while otherwise averaging 113,318 viewers for the entire program.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results, with all four major combatants taking holiday exemptions on both Thursday and Friday.

TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while CBS11 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).